Monday, March 02, 2015

Autism and the Difficulties of the Autistic Society in Iran

I first came to know autism when I decided to write my MA thesis in
Linguistics on the speech disorders of the autistic children, and as a
result entered their society through research. During my presence at
special schools for autistic children in the two cities of Shiraz and
Mashhad in Iran, I came to know about the shortcomings from which they
were suffering both at school and home. Since there is not much public
information about the autistic children and their difficulties in Iran, I
thought it would be informative for the public to know about some of my
experiences with these children and their difficulties so that due
attention could be paid to them.What is Autism?
Autism is a complex, multi-faceted disorder which affects
neurodevelopment during the early stages of life and for many lingers
throughout adulthood. Inherent features, to name but a few, include
difﬁculties or deﬁcits in communication, social interaction and
cognition, and person-to-person behavioral coordination and recall.
Autism impacts the affected individual, his/her family, and in some
cases the localized community. Among the factor that can contribute to
autism are heredity and genetics as well as biological, biochemical, and
environmental factors such as air pollution, use of certain medicines,
nicotine and alcohol during pregnancy, and also exposing of the children
to these damaging factors during the early stages of their lives.
In order that the autistic children’s speech and communication,
social interaction and cognition, and person-to-person behavioral
coordination be improved, they need improving measures such as speech
pathology, occupational therapy, play therapy, music therapy, art
therapy and medical therapy; treatments that can be undertaken together
or individually at public or private school and clinics. All of these
methods can increase the children’s power of communication, improve
their social behavior, and boost their self-confidence. These therapies
can also help autistic children make safe and helpful contact with their
therapist as well as with other people.
The autistic children in Iran are only partially supported by the
government and society. There are no “foundations for special diseases
and disorders” allocated to these children. As a result, the autistic
children in Iran are rarely provided with the necessary facilities for
their therapy and improvement, whether at school or home. I will
enumerate some of the shortcomings with regard to the care for and
improvement of the autistic children in Iran in the following.Speech Pathology
Speech pathology studies the nature of language and speech disorders,
and also develops the methods of diagnosis and therapy for these
disorders. Autistic children need the services of a speech pathologist,
but there are not enough therapeutic sessions for them at school. In
order to improve their speech and language, they need to attend about
three or four therapeutic sessions per week given the severity or
weakness of their speech and language disorders. However, they are only
given a twenty-minute session per week. As a consequence, their speech
will not improve.Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy is a method of skillful therapy which helps
damaged people regain or obtain their basic mental and physical
abilities such as use of hands for the different activities of everyday
life. The occupational therapist helps autistic children to improve some
of their skills such as writing, putting their clothes on, moving
around safely in society, communicating with other people, and a host of
other personal and social skills. Although occupational therapy is
important for autistic children, there aren’t enough therapeutic
sessions for them at school; and it is to be mentioned that at some
schools there is no occupational therapist at all.Play Therapy
As well as being one of the effective methods for the child’s
mental/social development and evolution, playing is an efficient method
for curing a number of mental disorders in children. Using playing
methods in order to cure the mental disorders of the child is called
play therapy. In this method, a playing situation is employed to make
contact with autistic children so that they can release their hysteria
and make emotional and intellectual contact with their instructor. But
play therapy, as a therapeutic method, follows a set of specific
principles without the consideration of which it won’t be effective. The
games that are typically used in this kind of therapy need special safe
rooms and specialized instructors. However, the rooms that are
allocated to play therapy at most schools in Iran aren’t safe and
suitable; and neither is the time allocated to each autistic child
enough for their improvement.Music Therapy
Music therapy is a highly effective method for the improvement of the
speech of autistic children who typically demonstrate weak or severe
deficiencies in their verbal behavior. Music therapy can in a systematic
way improve the speaking abilities of the autistic child. Music can
specially be helpful in curing the autistic children’s auditory problems
because it strengthens their auditory comprehension. Nevertheless, in
the schools that I visited there weren’t any programs for music therapy,
due to two reasons: first, there is no budget allocated for such kind
of a treatment; second, there are few therapists specialized in this
field in Iran.Art Therapy
Art therapy is one of the most successful methods for curing autistic
children all over the world. As it activates the emotional and
communicative sensors of autistic children, art therapy is generally
useful for the improvement of their five senses, specially their visual
sense. But again, like music therapy, there is a shortage – or even lack
– of budget and specialists for this method of therapy at schools in
Iran.Medicine Therapy
Although there is yet no special medication for curing autism,
specialists usually use specific medicines in order to relieve the
autistic children of their seizures, temporary periods of
unconsciousness, body convulsions, unusual movements, or staring spells.
If autistic children don’t receive that kind of medication, it can
cause severe seizures in them. Most of the medicines used for this
purpose, which are also used for other mental disorders with similar
symptoms, are special and expensive. As a result, it is difficult and
sometimes even impossible for most of the autistic children’s families –
who are usually from the lower ranks of society and have economic
shortcomings – to provide them with the necessary medication.Economic Problems of the Autistic Children’s Families
The majority of the therapeutic methods that I mentioned in this
article are expensive. While the families of the autistic children, like
any other families, are classified in the three levels of “poor,
ordinary, and rich”, most of the families that I came to know proved to
be poor. Consequently, these families can’t even provide their children
with their most vital necessities such as nourishment, clothing and
stationery. This economic disability prevents these families from having
access to the better services of the private centers for autistic
children. As the facilities and programs in public schools in Iran prove
inadequate and insufficient, autistic children never get any
appropriate cure and training, and therefore always remain disabled.Conclusion
Autistic children are not necessarily devoid of any ability. While it
is not advisable for the parents of autistic children to expect their
kids to be on the same level of learning with an ordinary kid, it is a
fact that autistic children have special talents that can be utilized in
order to improve their general condition. For instance, most autistic
children have a special talent in art, and if this talent is improved in
them, they can even be better artists than a typical child. However,
this is impossible unless necessary and sufficient facilities are
provided for these children, both at school and home. By improving their
talents, autistic children can have better lives both as individuals
and members of society. Helping these children will release them from
the prison in the making of which they themselves had no hand.

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